Kyriba becomes San Diego’s latest unicorn
Mar 27, 2019 -
We’ve talked a lot about unicorns lately. No, not the mythical horned creatures found in fairy tales and flash tattoos. We’re talking about privately held startup companies valued at over $1 billion. With Silicon Valley over-saturated in VC funding, many San Diego-based tech startups have been reaping the rewards: securing VC funds while getting to live the ultimate SoCal dream. Read The San Diego Union Tribune article below to learn about our latest unicorn, Kyriba.
San Diego fintech software firm Kyriba expects to soon complete a $160 million funding round as part of a capital restructuring that values the company at $1.2 billion.
With the new funding round, Kyriba would become San Diego’s third technology unicorn — defined as companies valued at over $1 billion. It joins Internet software firm Seismic and autonomous driving software outfit TuSimple.
The pending investment comes from European private equity outfit Bridgepoint, which will have majority ownership stake in Kyriba.
The company will use the funds to pay off some of its earlier investors, as well as accelerate development of its financial software platform through acquisitions and organic growth.
Kyriba makes cloud-based financial management software that helps large companies manage their cash in far-flung global bank accounts. It expects to move into a new, 50,000-square-foot corporate office in this fall that will more than double its current footprint in San Diego.
The privately held software-as-a-service firm hit $110 million in revenue last year, up 40 percent from 2017.
“Bridgepoint will help us fulfill our mission of enabling chief financial officers and treasury executives to be more agile and efficient in managing their global cash and liquidity,” said Jean-Luc Robert, chief executive of Kyriba.
The company employs about 120 workers in San Diego and expects to hire an additional 80 workers locally over the next 12 months. Kyriba employs about 700 globally.
Founded in 2003, Kyriba has raised about $100 million in venture capital over the years. Some of its early investors, including Upfront Ventures, are cashing out with this new funding, said Kevin Bryla, executive vice president at Kyriba.
“We are changing the capital structure, no question,” said Bryla. “There will be a few investors who are leaving us who have been with us for years and done an amazing amount of work to help us. They saw an opportunity for a good exit, and they set us up for a good future with a new partner.”
Bridgepoint has more than $20 billion of assets under management. While primarily a European fund, it does have offices in New York and San Francisco. It invests in technology companies in the U.S.
It hasn’t been determined yet how many representatives of Bridgepoint will join Kyriba’s board of directors. The company’s current management team will remain in place.
Kyriba’s customers include Qualcomm, Palo Alto Networks, Hilton, Spotify, Symantec and Peloton, among others. It added nearly 230 new clients last year.
In January, Kyriba acquired a Phoenix-area firm FiREapps, which makes analytics and other tools to manage foreign exchange fluctuations.
Reaching $100 million in revenue is considered a trigger for software firms to launch an initial public stock offering. But the recapitalization likely signals that Kyriba has no immediate plans to go public.
“With a market-leading offering in the French and U.S. markets, Kyriba is now well positioned to expand globally, and we anticipate that further investment in research and development in particular will support its development,” said Andrew Sweet, a New York-based Bridgepoint partner, in a statement.
Article and photo from The San Diego Union Tribune.